Tugs at the heartstrings and shows the importance of unconditional love.
Victoria Reeves is back with another No-Fail Plan in this follow-up to The First Magnificent Summer (2023).
This time, Victoria is ready to move on from the disappointment of last summer, which she spent with her absent, neglectful father. Now her plan consists of just three steps: “Forget about Dad,” “Get published,” and “Spend as much time with Mom as possible.” Step one is already off to a bad start—in the past year, Dad hasn’t reached out to Victoria, her siblings, or her mom or sent any child support, even while Mom has worked two jobs to barely get by. At least the other two goals look promising. That is, until Mom’s serious boyfriend starts hanging around more, becoming The Problem Known as Kyle. Victoria hatches The No-Fail Plan To Fix Our Family (and Heal), which boils down to getting rid of Kyle for good (“I’ve read all the fairy tales. The kids are never the winners when stepparents enter the picture”). As Victoria grapples with “womenstruation,” her growing body, new feelings, and more family changes, she must decide whether she’ll let people into her life or build walls so high that no one can reach her. Victoria writes her journal entries in both verse and prose, which will appeal to a variety of readers. This sequel thoughtfully and sincerely explores themes of womanhood, family, anxiety, and identity. Characters are cued white.
Tugs at the heartstrings and shows the importance of unconditional love. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781665925525
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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